In the aftermath of Congress\u2019 failure to reach a deal averting the sequester, President Obama described the automatic spending cuts as foolhardy, warning, \u201cThe pain will be real. The longer these cuts are in place, the greater the damage.\u201d Those words are now coming to fruition, as local cancer clinics all across America are being forced to turn away thousands of senior citizens on Medicare and deny them their chemotherapy treatments as a consequence of federal budget cuts.<\/p>\n
The Washington Post\u2019s Sarah Kliff reports that even the sequester\u2019s relatively mild two percent cut to Medicare is forcing clinics to choose between providing care to patients, absorbing debilitating financial losses, or downsizing medical staff. Faced with those unsavory choices, clinics like North Shore Hematology Oncology Associates in New York are refusing to see as many as 5,000 of their Medicare patients:<\/p>\n
Medications for seniors are usually covered under the optional Medicare Part D, which includes private insurance. But because cancer drugs must be administered by a physician, they are among a handful of pharmaceuticals paid for by Part B, which covers doctor visits and is subject to the sequester cut.<\/p>\n
The federal government typically pays community oncologists for the average sales price of a chemotherapy drug, plus 6 percent to cover the cost of storing and administering the medication.<\/p>\n
Since oncologists cannot change the drug prices, they argue that the entire 2 percent cut will have to come out of that 6 percent overhead. That would make it more akin to a double-digit pay cut.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you get cut on the service side, you can either absorb it or make do with fewer nurses,\u201d said Ted Okon, director of the Community Oncology Alliance, which advocates for hundreds of cancer clinics nationwide. \u201cThis is a drug that we\u2019re purchasing. The costs don\u2019t change and you can\u2019t do without it. There isn\u2019t really wiggle room.\u201d […]<\/p>\n
An analysis prepared by [the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders director Ralph Boccia’s] clinic estimates that, if the full 2 percent cut takes effect, between 50 and 70 percent of the drugs it administers would become money losers.<\/p>\n